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Personal vs File Geodatabase

When creating a new model, InfoWater gives the option to choose a personal geodatabase (default) or a file geodatabase. I've always used the personal GDB. Can anyone provide any insight on the reasons to choose one or the other?

I imagine you would use the file GDB if you expect the model network to be larger than the 2gb limit imposed by the personal GDB, but that would have to be an extremely large model.

The File Geodatabase/personal geodatabase only applies to the "Map" file which is what you see.

The File Geodatabase which is ESRI's current standard tends to allow the ARCGIS to redraw elements faster and to help complete certain routines in the software faster when drawing elements or selecting elements especially if a model is larger than about roughly 40,000 pipes.

For smaller models there may not be much of a noticeable difference, but for larger models it is definitely noticeable. Because of this when we recommend a model rebuild, we generally recommend using a file geodatabase over a personal geodatabase as there can be improved performance when using a file geodatabase.

Here is our recommended procedure to rebuild the model database as this is helpful to clean out a model of unnecessary information which can also greatly improve model speed and performance. One can use this procedure to also convert a model in a personal geodatabase to a file geodatabase as well.

Procedure to rebuild and InfoWater Database
This procedure will rebuild the IWDB folder. This procedure is helpful
For the instructions below, Model1 is the original model and Model2 is the rebuilt model.